Dominion Energy says they are currently replacing all eligible street lights in the city of North Charleston with new LED lighting.
It’s a transition that Dominion Energy SC spokesperson Paul Fischer says can reduce energy consumption by 50%.
About 6,600 new high efficiency, LED lights are currently being installed across North Charleston. Fischer says they’re about halfway done right now. He adds that they hope to finish converting all the lights in North Charleston in the early part of the new year.
Fischer says the new lights will last about 25 years, and the old, high intensity discharge lights lasted about ten years.
“So once all of the lights are converted across the city of North Charleston, there is the potential there to save approximately 4 million kilowatt-hours a year,” Fischer said. “So that’s a significant energy savings.”
He says the purpose of the new lights is to improve public safety by eliminating shadows and glares both on the roads and sidewalks.
Another benefit of the new lighting is that Dominion calls them a sustainable solution that benefits the environment.
Dominion Energy has a goal of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and Fischer says this solution provides a permanent benefit to the community by reducing our carbon footprint.
Crews are also installing new remote monitoring systems on the lights right now.
When a street light goes out, Dominion will be notified automatically.
“So that’s really a benefit for not only the municipality who won’t have to track those lights that might be out, and then report those to us, but also a benefit to the residents,” Fischer said. “You’re going to see less lights out for a much shorter period of time with this new technology.”
He says North Charleston is one of their early partners in adding LED lights, but they have converted lights in the Brownsville area of Summerville already.
Dominion Energy hopes to eventually expand the new LED lights to all municipalities in South Carolina.
